Media darlings ex-CIA analyst Valerie Plame and her husband Joe Wilson filed a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney, top White House aide Karl Rove and others on Thursday for their role in the unproven allegation that they leaked her classified CIA status to the press.
The lawsuit claims that “a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House” to “discredit, punish and seek revenge” against Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly disputing statements made by Bush justifying the war in Iraq. It was Wilson’s statements, by the way, that the Senate Intelligence Committee said were created out of whole cloth.
Plame and Wilson colluded to hurt the Bush presidency for their left-wing friends, and expected their actions would not be exposed. Plame sent her husband, a Washington, DC fop, to investigate whether or not yellow-cake uranium in Niger was transported to Iraq prior to the war. Wilson, with no investigative or intelligence experience, came back to America and wrote his report on his trip … for the New York Times.
Of course, his real report to the Senate Intelligence Committee contradicted his NY Times op-ed, but that didn’t matter to the Bush-haters, the America-bashers, and the antiwar activists who really aren’t antiwar; their only anti-U.S. victory.
In the days following the “leak” Wilson claimed that Cheney sent him. Then he claimed the CIA sent him. Then a memorandum written by his wife revealed that she pushed for his appointment as a special CIA investigator. Perhaps she even gave him a little gold badge that said, “Special CIA Investigator.”
Plame and Wilson’s lawsuit claims the couple “suffered violations of their constitutional and legal rights,” including an “invasion of their privacy, and that the disclosure of her name destroyed her CIA career.” Of course, don’t look for any explanation of what constitutional rights they were denied. It certainly wasn’t their First Amendment rights, cause you couldn’t shut Wilson up if you tried.
I saw the cover of Vanity Fair with Plame and Wilson posing as Mrs. Peel and John Steed from the 1960s spy show “The Avengers.” They didn’t look as if they were suffering much. In addition, with the help of their friends in the news media, the couple ignored the fact that Wilson mentions his wife in his listing for the vanity publication “Who’s Who in America.”
The news media applauded the pair when the CIA-leak case dominated the news after Wilson accused the administration of leaking his wife’s name to punish him for writing in the New York Times that the Bush administration twisted intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war. Standing with Senator Charles “Chuckie” Schumer (D-NY), who once called himself a monkey during a diatribe about FEMA, Wilson posed before the TV camera’s as if he were America’s conquering
hero.
A two-year investigation by a special prosecutor came up with nothing. Nothing. Unless you count an indictment against a top Cheney aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, last year on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury. In fact, it was the investigation that created the indictment, not the subject of the special prosecutor’s probe. In otherwords, there was no crime committed until the investigation into that non-crime occurred.
The 23-page Plame-Wilson lawsuit says that the key players in the Bush White House “embarked on an anonymous ‘whispering campaign’ designed to discredit and injure the plaintiffs and to deter other critics from publicly speaking out.”
“This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of one such human source at the CIA, Valerie Plame Wilson, whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,” the suit said.
Very dramatic filing, don’t you think? I watched and listened when the well-known Judge Andrew Napolitano, a libertarian jurist from my neck of the woods, analyzed their suit, and he couldn’t stop giggling while he explained it was all smoke and mirrors and probably wouldn’t go anywhere.
Of course, he may be wrong. With the help of news organizations, expect coverage that will probably spin and spin and spin on behalf of the dynamic duo until some judge decides he better let the case go forward. Or Plame and Wilson might luck out and get one of those Clinton-ACLU type judges who begin to hallucinate when they read the US Constitution.
Why is this a big mistake for them and their backers? Because of a couple of little things known as full disclosure and discovery.
For instance, attorneys representing Cheney, Rove, Libby and others will insist on seeing documents, e-mails, telephone records, etc. How did Wilson get picked to go to Niger in the first place? Besides Plame’s recommendation that her husband get the Niger job, who at the CIA actually dispatched Wilson to Africa?
Also, what reporters or Democrat lawmakers and leaders did Wilson or Plame communicate with? Since Sen. Schumer became Wilson’s “handler,” perhaps he will be subpoenaed as well. I’d love to see Chuckie Schumer, who can’t be quiet for 5 seconds, have to speak under oath.
The actual trial — if this ridiculous lawsuit even gets that far — will be an interesting one. Politically motivated trials usually are. It’s obvious Plame and Wilson love the spotlight, as well, and not being particularly bright people they’ll probably provide grist for the mill of the blogosphere.
The fact of the matter is that the Democrats want to keep this story alive in spite of not getting their archenemy Karl Rove indicted. The prosecutor tried, but being an honorable guy he realized — although he hasn’t said it bluntly — that this CIA Leak Case was a lot of Hoodoo. You see, Democrat Party liberals are only interested in probing leaks that don’t harm national security. You know — the ones that actually help the enemy and hurt the country.
”’Jim Kouri, CPP, is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own Web site is located at”’ https://jimkouri.us
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